


(If She's Here) It's Crystal Clear

by roseandheather



Category: Honor Harrington Series - David Weber
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-02-23
Updated: 2014-02-23
Packaged: 2018-01-13 11:33:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 547
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1224739
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/roseandheather/pseuds/roseandheather
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Of gardens and love and growing things. And, perhaps, the start of something new...</p>
            </blockquote>





	(If She's Here) It's Crystal Clear

**Author's Note:**

> Here! Have some sugar shock! I can't seem to get these two out of my system, and frankly, I don't care. The Honorverse has little enough fluff as it is, and these two characters deserve some love - and, quite possibly, each other.

"I can’t tell you how badly I’ve needed this," Estelle confided quietly as they strolled hand-in-hand through Thimble’s largest park. Here, in Flax’s local equivalent of early summer, the wind was soft and warm, and the smell of growing things filled the air.

Augustus Khumalo chuckled quietly next to her, the warmth of his laugh rich and genuine in her ear. “You’re not the only one,” he agreed, his voice as low as hers. “I think we both have, after - everything.”

He waved the hand not currently clasped in hers about to indicate the general insanity of the past months, and she nodded fervently. “I don’t know how I’d have got through this without you,” she admitted. “Some days it felt like you were the only thing holding me together.”

"Don’t think you’re alone." Khumalo’s voice was a deep rumble in his chest, incredibly comforting to the woman who had clung to that voice when she had nothing else. "Without you - all I had to do was think of you, Estelle, to find the strength I thought I lacked. But it turned out I had all the strength I needed, Essie, and that strength was you."

She jerked around to look into his eyes, her own wide with wonder and pleasure, and he squeezed the hand still held in his.

They were at the center of a patterned garden now, with the flowers called “Flax roses” in high bloom, and Augustus drew her to an arbor thick with scented blossoms.

And then, to her astonishment, he slowly sank to one knee before her, both her hands in his now. Her eyes filled with tears, and Augustus began to smile as he saw the recognition hit her.

"Estelle," he said, and his voice cracked on her name. "Essie, darling, by any reasonable standard it’s too soon for this. But I can’t find it in me to care. I have waited fifty years for what I have found these last six months with you. Now the future isn’t shades of grey, post after meaningless post with nothing real to do. It’s all in living colour now, and the only person I want to share that colour with is standing in front of me." He placed a small velvet box in her hand, watched her open it, watched her gasp. "I love you, Estelle Matsuko, and I always will." Taking a deep breath, he looked her straight in the eyes. "Essie, my only love, will you marry me?"

She cupped his cheek in her hand for a brief moment. And then she slipped the discreet, diamond-encrusted ring onto her left hand, and knelt beside him.

"Yes," she choked, and he crushed her against him as in one smooth movement he brought them both to their feet and then swept her off hers entirely. "Yes," she said again, though all the breath had left her lungs and his arms were banded steel around her. "Oh, yes."

That familiar, gentle hand cradled the back of her head, and when he kissed her she dove into it, into the future they would build and the life they would share and, here in this moment, the thrill of his mouth on hers as she kissed the man she loved as though she’d never stop.


End file.
